Electrical connectors are well known for connecting wires to printed circuit boards. For example, lighting fixtures generally require a ballast assembly to be incorporated in the fixture. The ballast includes a printed circuit board having electronic components that operate the ballast and have many wires extending from it, in order to connect to other parts of the fixture. Electrical connectors are known and may be used for the ballast. For example, a wiretrap connector is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,456, which provides for an insulator housing having a plurality of holes formed by the insulator for receiving wires. Contacts are mounted within the insulator, each having a wire clamping electrical contact and an over-stress stop abutment for interacting with a wire which is inserted within the insulator of the electrical connector assembly. Such an electrical connector allows for the quick insertion of wires into the connector and provides for an overstress stop abutment for the contact. However, such electrical connectors are generally designed only for the vertical insertion of wires into the electrical connector. As well, such electrical connectors do not provide for a means of enclosing an opening provided by the ballast canister or electrically isolating the contact of the connector. Further, such electrical connectors do not provide for a strain relief for the wires terminated by the electrical connector.
Other means of connecting wires to a printed circuit board are known, such as direct soldering of the wires to the printed circuit board. Such a process is cumbersome due to the difficulties of processing the printed circuit board. Handling the printed circuit board for certain processing steps, such as testing or soldering in an oven is difficult because a plurality of long wires are attached to the printed circuit board during such operations. Therefore, there is desired an electrical connector and assembly which overcomes the above disadvantages.